Chapter 71: Wule
The courtyard was spacious, and a bundle of hay was placed for the little horse to eat. When it saw someone coming, it stood there and looked, its ears pricked up, and it snorted. As Bai Luochuan and Mi Yang got a little closer, it pawed the ground with its front hooves, looking nervous.
Mi Yang looked at it from a distance, and the more he looked, the more he liked it. Bai Luochuan took a carrot from the side and gave it to him. “Feed it something first. It’ll be close to you in a bit.”
Mi Yang had never fed a horse before. He tried to hand it forward, but the little horse was wary and didn’t eat.
Bai Luochuan said, “That’s strange. I fed it like this in the morning… Look, it’s eating.”
The little horse lowered its head and ate what Bai Luochuan fed it, but its big eyes were still looking at Mi Yang, with a hint of curiosity even as it ate. Mi Yang was so mesmerized by its black, satin-like coat that he couldn’t help but reach out and stroke it when Bai Luochuan got closer. He said in surprise, “So smooth!”
Old Bai came over from behind, leaning on a cane, and said with a chuckle, “What do you think? Beautiful, right?”
Mi Yang greeted the old man and nodded. “Grandpa Bai, where did this little horse come from? It’s so beautiful!”
The old Mr. Bai said, “A while ago, the military horse farm in the old district was downsized. The last few horses were also going to be sold. I couldn’t bear it, so I had someone ship one back.” He got closer and stroked the little horse’s head, his eyes filled with nostalgia. “When I first joined the army, there was still a cavalry regiment. The thing I looked forward to the most every year was the new horses entering the camp. It was like a festival. I would go to the camp gate early in the morning to guard, just to see them in advance. Later, the cavalry regiment was gone, and the horse farms were also downsized one by one…”
The little horse was very close to Old Bai. It rubbed its head against his palm even without a carrot. After all, it was a three-year-old foal, and its wariness of people was not yet strong. It was also the easiest time to build a relationship with people.
Old Bai was tickled by it and also laughed. “Alright, alright, let’s not talk about those old stories. Look, it’s not happy anymore.”
The little horse was still rubbing against Old Bai’s palm, snorted, and looked at him expectantly.
Bai Luochuan said, “Grandpa, do you have sugar cubes in your pocket?”
Old Bai immediately denied it. “Nonsense, of course not!”
Bai Luochuan was wary. “Then why is it so good with you?”
Old Bai snorted. “That’s because Grandpa is good at handling horses. When I was your age, I was already crawling and rolling in the military camp. If nothing else, when I was the commander of the cavalry regiment, I had more than a thousand good horses under my command, and I could pick and choose. Every one of them was so close to me!”
Bai Luochuan didn’t believe him and went forward to feel the old man’s pocket. Old Bai shooed him away with his cane. “Go, go, no respect for your elders!”
Bai Luochuan said, “You still say you don’t have any. I felt them. There are several pieces!”
The grandfather and grandson were competing for favor in front of each other. One was holding a carrot with a look of defiance, and the other had sugar cubes in his pocket and was stubbornly denying it. The little horse’s sense of smell was much better than theirs, and being young, it couldn’t hold back. It soon bent its head and gently bit the corner of Old Bai’s clothes, begging for sugar through his pocket.
Bai Luochuan sneered. “You still say you don’t have any?”
Old Bai: “…”
Old Bai stood up straight with his cane and said reluctantly, “I got these for Yangyang. Did I forget just now? I’ll give them to him now. Yangyang, you come over. Grandpa will teach you how to feed the little horse!”
Mi Yang held back a laugh and walked over. Old Bai took out a few fruit candies from his pocket with a straight face, taught him to peel the wrapper, and then placed the few candies flat on his palm for the little horse to eat. Old Bai held his hand and raised it a little. “That’s right, just approach it slowly like this. After you’ve fed it a few times, it’ll be familiar with you. The little thing has a good memory. It knows who is good to it.”
The little horse approached and ate the two fruit candies with its tongue. It finally let Mi Yang stroke its head.
Mi Yang accidentally touched its ear, and the little horse immediately twitched it warily and took a step back.
Bai Luochuan came over and said to him, “The ears are off-limits. Stroke its head first. Take it slow.”
Old Bai watched them for a while. He was old and a little tired. He told them not to feed it too much and then went back to rest.
Bai Luochuan stayed in the courtyard with Mi Yang to build a relationship with the little horse and also told Mi Yang the story of this horse.
“When Grandpa was in the cavalry regiment, he rode a black horse just like this one. Grandpa said it was shipped from the Mongolian pastoral area. At that time, the entire cavalry regiment was in an uproar. They had never seen such a good horse in so many years. The other horses couldn’t catch up to it even if they ran at full speed. All the horses in the stable would let it eat first, and not a single horse dared to compete with it. The whole regiment treated it like a treasure. And then, guess what?” Bai Luochuan stroked the little horse’s head and winked at Mi Yang. “It ran away.”
Mi Yang was surprised. “Ran away? Where did it run to?”
Bai Luochuan said, “It ran all the way from Gansu back to Inner Mongolia. It was almost a thousand kilometers from the cavalry regiment to the pastoral area. It led two other horses and went back in half a month. Two soldiers who had enlisted from the pastoral area, each with two horses, chased it for 27 days. When they arrived at the horse farm, the black horse was still there, eating hay! The herdsman was so moved by it that he didn’t want to give it to the cavalry regiment. Later, the division headquarters had to send a car over to ship both the men and the horse back. It was even on the internal publication at that time, praising the horse for being very spiritual. It was very famous.”
Mi Yang listened with relish and pressed on, “And then?”
Bai Luochuan said, “And then, it followed Grandpa. It was kept even after it retired. Grandpa would send money there every year, and in the past, he would also send some non-staple food coupons, just because he knew it loved to eat sugar. It’s been raised for three or four generations, right? Now that the military horse farm is being downsized, when they asked whether to sell it to the herdsmen or how to deal with it, Grandpa couldn’t bear it and had it shipped over.”
He stroked the little horse’s head, his eyes a little gentle. “This is also the last one.”
Mi Yang looked at him and felt a sense of contradiction in him. This person had a big temper, but he was always innocent and harmless with small animals. But with other people, he would immediately put up a guard. Mi Yang thought of the playmates he had met on the mountain before and couldn’t help but say, “When you saw those children just now, you didn’t seem… to be in such a good mood as you are now?”
Bai Luochuan frowned. “They were annoying. I was too lazy to bother with them.”
Mi Yang was taken aback. “Did they give you a nickname?”
The young master Bai was not willing to talk about this and took another carrot to tease the little horse and feed it. He was more at ease with animals.
Mi Yang thought for a moment. “Maybe they didn’t mean it…”
Bai Luochuan interrupted him. “You haven’t seen the stable yet, have you? I’ll take you to have a look.” He led the little horse and took Mi Yang with him. The sound of the horse’s hooves clattered. The little horse followed him very obediently. Perhaps because Mi Yang had given it a sugar cube just now, it even turned its head to look at Mi Yang, as if wondering why he wasn’t following.
Mi Yang sighed and followed.
Old Bai had someone build a stable for the little horse in the backyard. Perhaps considering that it would grow much bigger in the future, the stable was built very spacious. Ivy climbed up the wooden walls, and a small sign was hung on the side with the words: Wule.
Mi Yang curiously looked at the small wooden sign and asked, “Is this its name?”
Bai Luochuan said, “Yes.”
Mi Yang said, “It seems to be Mongolian. What does it mean in translation?”
Bai Luochuan led the little horse in and settled it, stroked its head, and looked at its black and bright, innocent eyes, then smiled. “Cloud Map. Sounds nice, right? You have no idea how handsome it is when it runs. It’s even faster than the clouds in the sky. When the weather is good tomorrow, I’ll take you to see it.”
